Heading into the 2024 NBA playoffs, the team that was playing the best might have been the Dallas Mavericks. They finished their regular season 16-2 with a full roster available. So heading into their 1st round match-up against the Los Angeles Clippers that would more than likely start this series without their superstar in Kawhi Leonard, they would be favorites over LA.
All week leading up to Game 1 on Sunday afternoon head coach Ty Lue was asked if Leonard would be available and his response, “We’ll see.” He said he and the team were prepared to play Game 1 without him, if it came down to that.
No Kawhi, No Problem
We got our answer around 10:45 am Sunday morning, Leonard would be out for Game 1. With the news coming down, not many people outside of the Clippers organization expected this LA team to go out and win.
“We can’t ease into the game,” Lue said Sunday pre-game. “We got to have an attack mentality on both ends of the floor. And so we don’t want to come in and try to ease into the game. ...I know guys talk about a ‘feel-out game’ — no. We’re going to win the game. And so, we’re not trying to feel anything out. We got to go for it.”
They did just that, convincingly, with a 109-97 win. And it was never really that close helping them take a 1-0 series lead.
LA led by as many as 29 early in the 3rd and they essentially coasted the rest of the way. Dallas was never able to get within more than 12 points and they trailed the entire game. Defensively, without Leonard, they overwhelmed a high-powered Dallas offense with their physicality and tenacity.
Los Angeles Clippers beat Dallas Mavericks: Impressive Defensive Performance
The second quarter was indicative of the demonstration that was on display. They held Dallas to a season-low 8 points in the quarter on just 2-20 from the field. And didn’t allow a field goal for the final 7:17. It was a defensive clinic and LA’s preparation all week leading up to Game 1 played a huge part in their success according to coach Ty Lue.
“We had a chance to game plan,” Lue said after the Clippers held the Mavericks to 30 first-half points on 22-percent shooting in Game 1. “We had four or five days to really understand what they were doing and understand what we want to take away and what we were willing to give up. So, I thought our guys were pretty good. We got to be better. We understand that. But for the most part, just looking at it, I thought our scheme was really good. So, going into Game 2 we got to clean a couple of things up and just kind of go from there.”
Offense Wasn’t Bad Either
Offensively, they collectively had balance scoring without their leading scorer Leonard. James Harden showed early why he has been one of the best scorers this league has seen in the last decade as he scored 20 of his team-high 28 pts in the 1st half (6-11 from 3-pt).
“It’s going to be different matchups,” Harden said after being guarded by PJ Washington in the first half and Derrick Jones Jr. to start the second half. “They tried Luka. I mean for me, my mindset doesn’t change.”
“Especially at home, you want to take care of business at home,” said Clippers All-Star Paul George, who shook off a five-point first half to finish with 22 points on 8-20 FG. “With us being the home-court advantage team, it’s very important to start off on the right note.”
Los Angeles Clippers beat Dallas Mavericks: Ivica Zubac Showed Up!
What this team got from big man Ivica Zubac offensively was something Dallas and their head coach Jason Kidd probably didn’t prepare for heading into this series. Zubac finished with a huge 20 pt and 15 reb performance and took advantage of the Mavs Daniel Gafford (picked up two early fouls defending Zu) and rookie Dereck Lively II down-low. He had the best plus-minus of +15 of anyone that took the floor in 33 minutes.
“I know we’re a great defensive team and I got to be one of the leaders out there on the defensive end,” Zubac said. “That’s something I’ve been doing for this team for a little bit. And no matter who it is, I just got to lock in for the game plan. They’re going to make shots; Luka, Kyrie, they’re going to make tough shots. But we got to make it harder for them.”
Los Angeles Clippers beat Dallas Mavericks: Dallas Needs Their Supporting Cast
The box score says that Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving had a pretty good game offensively, combining for 64 points on 21-44 from the field, but they were never comfortable offensively. They had to work for everything and the Clippers showed them multiple bodies all game regardless of the score.
“In a playoff game, man, scoring eight points feels like forever, and that’s what it felt like out there,” Irving said. “I think it started with how we started off the second quarter and allowed them to feel very comfortable in that first quarter and there was carry over. I think we got to give them credit for hitting shots and doing the right thing. Capitalizing off our turnovers and our lack of physicality. So, it was a combination of a lot of those things where we allowed them to feel comfortable on the offensive end and defensively made it easier due just in terms of our spacing.”
LA has answered any questions with this performance in the playoffs, and they did so without Leonard. If nothing else, as coach Ty Lue has put it all week leading up to this series “They are fully locked” heading into these playoffs.
“We did what we’re supposed to do,” Harden said. “Game 2, teams are going to make their adjustments. They’re going to figure things that didn’t work, you know what I mean? And try to correct those things. So for us, it’s just finding out what worked, finding out what didn’t work and things that we can get better at and then we can control what we can control and then not focus on anything else.”
Game 2: Tuesday 4/23
LA Leads series 1-0
